Currently deploying broadband wireless network access to end-users is expensive and requires substantial capital investment on the part of the carrier. The broadband wireless carrier moves the data the last miles from the higher-speed backbone to the end user location. Today, those last miles carriers include telephone companies, cable companies, and satellite providers. These providers typically require a 36 to 60 month return on investment. Current wireless Internet service providers (ISPs) and other broadband wireless carriers typically can achieve 18 to 24 month return on investment. Even this shorter period, however, is a barrier to widespread use and adoption of wireless broadband access. As a result, the broadband penetration in the United States is lower than it is in comparable industrialized nations.
Penetration could be improved if there was available a low cost solution for broadband wireless carriers that allows them to incrementally increase their operating costs as they need more capacity. Ideally, such a system would be incrementally expandable in capacity so that the cost of the system also grows incrementally. Thus, the broadband wireless carrier would pay proportionally to the size and use of the system so that the associated capital investment is always used efficiently.
Return on investment solutions for broadband wireless networks come from increased revenue, reduced total cost of ownership and operation, and by arranging the wireless network business to achieve earlier revenue and/or achieve a delay in expense. Ideally, the solutions let the broadband wireless network operator sign up subscriptions for revenue larger than total cost at all time from the start of the business.
One mechanism for reduced total cost of ownership of a broadband wireless network is to automatically perform metering and recording of capacity and services sold to network subscribers. Recorded data may then automatically be made available to the network carrier as well as to the network carrier's broadband service providers